We use cookies to customise content for your subscription and for analytics.If you continue to browse Lexology, we will assume that you are happy to receive all our cookies. For further information please read our Cookie Policy.

CFTC Chairman and Chief Economist Respond to Vatican Paper on Ethical Considerations for the Present Economic-Financial System

In a rare Saturday publication of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo and Bruce Tuckman, Chief Economist, responded to a recent publication by two Vatican offices that reflected on the morality of current-day markets and financial systems and proposed responsive ethical principles. The publication, issued by the two Vatican offices on May 17, 2018 – the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development – generally challenged economic forces that, on the one hand, have increased economic well-being “with an unprecedented magnitude and speed,” but, on the other hand, have prompted “inequalities [to] proliferate between various countries and within them” and resulted in large numbers of persons living in “extreme poverty.” The offices were critical of derivatives generally and credit default swaps in particular, as types of financial products that contribute to speculative bubbles and had an “important contributive cause of the recent financial crisis.” (Click here to access the Vatican offices’ publication.) In response, Mr. Giancarlo and Mr. Tuckman respectfully reflected on the societal benefits of derivatives – providing a means for the risks of variable production costs “to be transferred from the those who cannot afford them to those who can,” thus helping to “stabilize the cost of day-to-day living.” While acknowledging “economic and ethical challenges” in CDS markets, Mr. Giancarlo and Mr. Tuckman argued that the markets provide an important benefit in today’s financial system by allowing market participants to hedge their business risks and, as a result, to “expand production, provide additional services, or increasing lending.”